An Unofficial Podcast about NBC's Hannibal, Hannibal Lecter, and the Works of Thomas Harris

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For the third season running, Bryan Fuller et al have managed to shock us silent with the revelations and twists that bring the season to the close. With this finale possibly being a bit more final than the other two, we discuss whether it’s possible it could’ve ended better, worse, or even differently. We discuss the omissions from the Red Dragon arc, and whether they were necessary to begin with, and dig deeper into the #Hannigram.

We’re joined by an out of town friend, fan of the podcast and the show, Raina, as we discuss the penultimate episode of our season (hopefully not series). Raul Esparza gives his best performance of the series, Richard Armitage creates an otherworldly persona through movement and vocalizations as he truly becomes the dragon. We speculate on the end of this season, discussing what will become of Will Graham. And we talk about Meatloaf. Just ‘cuz.

Formerly NBC’s Hannibal goes far off-book with this episode, taking us to a place where we smug book readers are just as uncertain about what is to come in the final two episodes of the season. The Red Dragon is thrown at Will’s family in a tense scene of stalking, Hannibal spends as much time as possible fucking with everybody around him, and Will is absolutely done with both Jack Crawford and former BFF Hannibal Lecter.

We’re halfway through the Red Dragon arc on Hannibal, and are being given both stunning beauty in the scenes between Dolarhyde and Reba, and stunning acts of CGI crappery (see the below CGI teeth). We go off on several tangents, Cooper calls some fans hipster douchebags and spends a good four minutes angrily ranting about the aforementioned terrible CGI. Find more information about The Great Red Dragon paintings of William Blake here.

The Red Dragon arc reaches the beauty that separates this work of fiction from so many in this genre with the introduction of Reba McClain (Rutina Wesley) and beginning to peel back the story of Francis Dolarhyde. Meanwhile Will and Hannibal begin a dance of working together in their own family, as Hannibal remembers his building of a family with surprise guest Kacey Rohl as Abigail Hobbes, and Will clings to the relaxed comfort of his family. Miko returns to the table with Cooper & Ophilia, and they’re all around the same table again!

We’re joined by Kate Kulzick from Sound on Sight‘s Hannibal podcast This is Our Design joins us to discuss the rise of The Great Red Dragon, as Miko completes her summer walkabout in a vacation home with poor wifi. Cooper is a bit jarred by the transition from pretentious seventies foreign film first half of the season to (relatively) straight forward procedural adaptation of the first book of the Hannibal Lecter series Red Dragon. We marvel at an almost silent introduction of our new character Francis Dolarhyde played by Richard Armitage.

An episode that could very well be the series finale, as it brings us all the way up to the beginning of the Thomas Harris novels (excluding Hannibal Rising). The Italy portion of this season comes to a close, as does Mason Verger’s story line. This episode brings us some of the most bizarre and upsetting imagery of the series, which says a lot. All in all a superb episode of television that doesn’t pull a single punch in wrapping up its ongoing stories.

Everything comes to a head in Florence, as Hannibal’s time there is nearly at an end. Bedilia puts her drug and confusion filled plan into effect, Mason, Margot, & Alana go to plan B, and Will is briefly reunited with Jack, before getting to the reunion we’ve all been waiting for.

The tragic hubris of Inspector Pazzi comes to a head in an episode that gave us severe déjà vu from the film version of Hannibal. We lament that his story was rather brief, and a single line change from the text leads Cooper down a complaint path to Watchmen. In the mean time Will and Chiyoh take the dream train through Narnia, and Jack says goodbye to Bella in Italy. This all leads to another fantastic fight scene, the ultimate throwdown between Hannibal and Jack, who no longer has any fucks to give.

A bang up episode that finds Chilton running his Avengers Initiative, Dead Abigail, and post Red Dinner origins for all of our characters. We meet Joe Anderson’s version of Mason Verger and are quite pleased, as well as find out what happened (in brutally graphic fashion) to Frederick Chilton post Miriam Lass intervention last season. The only thing keeping this from being in the top five episodes of Hannibal is the sheer lack of the man himself, seen in flashbacks, fantasies, and epistolary cutaways.

So, now the question: Did Hannibal kill and eat his younger sister Mischa? Was she his first victim? This is the major overarching discussion of this third episode of Hannibal’s third season. Cooper is a bit exhausted by the slowness and didn’t initially like the episode. Miko & Ophilia are a bit more on board thanks to firefly symbolism. Jack Crawford makes his way to Italy, Will heads to “the place Hannibal can never go,” visiting Stately Lector Manor in Lithuania and meeting Chiyoh, the new addition to the cast, and Hannibal does a lot of entertaining, and some stabbing.

At once an episode full of hallucinations and dream logic, and an episode that follows a very straight forward timeline. Will Graham wakes up after the events of the Red Dinner and heads to Italy himself. There he encounters Inspector Pazzi from the novel Hannibal. Will seeks Hannibal both for closure, and for comfort, to offer forgiveness.

And we’re back! Hannibal roars back onto our screens on a motorcycle in Paris, stalking his prey. This tremendous season opener written by Bryan Fuller & Steve Lightfoot, and directed by Cube director Vincenzo Natali wastes no time in proclaiming Season 3 to be an entirely different beast than seasons 1 and 2. The adventures of The Fells, Hannibal & Bedelia DuMaurier, in first Paris, then Florence, are stunning achievements of television, as well as looping back in time so we can spend a significant amount of time with our old friend Dr. Gideon. Can’t wait for episode 2!

We are joined at the table once again by Kate Kulzick from Sound On Sight, The Televerse Podcast, and our progenitor the This is Our Design Hannibal podcast. The reason for our expanded table is that we have arrived at the finale! Tonight, the throw down happens, and we get resolution that is both beautiful and horrible, painful and exquisite. Cooper unabashedly calls this the greatest episode of television he’s ever experienced. The Jack/Hannibal confrontation we glimpsed 12 episodes ago comes to horrible fruition, the waters surrounding which side Will is on grow murkier, and there’s a fateful date with a linoleum knife.

This is the final episode of Eat The Rudecast for this season, but we will return next summer when the show returns. In the meantime, Damn Good Podcast is coming, as Cooper, Miko, & Ophilia deconstruct Twin Peaks.

Mason Verger is disturbed to find himself not the star of a show called Verger, but merely the “little-bad” on a show called Hannibal. The final pieces are put in place for the epic season finale, and a guest star returns.

We can barely contain our excitement as Hannibal has multiple sessions with Mason Verger, the reveal and deveal of Freddie Lounds fate occurs, the windego morphs into Shiva, and the game changes significantly for Will and Hannibal when it comes to Mason Verger.

We’re thrilled to meet Mason Verger, played by Michael Pitt, as our story kicks over into end game and mini-series blasts its way toward the fight conclusion. This episode offers one of the most unnerving tableaus in the sabertooth Randal Tier display, and a thrilling climax that involves Will cutting the ginger.

From the opening fantasy sequence where Will uses his ravenstag to kill Hannibal/Wendigo, through the expansion of the Margot Verger subplot, to the most raw KOW (killer of the week) in Randall Tier, the beast, the mechanical cave bear, we adore this episode. Even if it does have one of the most unusual and abrupt endings of the series.

A treat of an episode filled with guest stars Katherine Isabelle, Jeremy Davies, and Chris Diamantopoulos. We spend the first ten minutes discussing the character of Margot Verger and the differences between the books, movies, and this series, and Bryan Fuller’s versions of a character that was a bit of a stereotype in Thomas Harris’ work. Beyond that we get the strangest killer of the week scenario involving a horse and womb.

A hell of an episode advances all the plotlines while taking a significant turn to the beautiful surreal of experimental films. We discuss the validity of the Hannibal/Alana storyline, the reality of the cages in the BSHCI, and the beauty of the food at Hannibal’s dinner party.

All on this episode of Eat The Rudecast, an unauthorized podcast about NBC’s Hannibal, and the works of Thomas Harris.

We return from weeks of illness and vacation and illness again to a really cracking puzzle box of an episode that unfolds and unfolds with more plot points than we can even be prepared for. We bid a farewell to Beverly Katz as she has been deconstructed by Hannibal. Cooper feels that this is the episode where Hannibal becomes magic, but is willing to make the leap. We’re thrilled to see the returning Abel Gideon (“We thought you were dead!”) and Frederick Chilton continues to make Cooper giggle.

All on this episode of Eat The Rudecast, an unauthorized podcast about NBC’s Hannibal, and the works of Thomas Harris.

We marvel at the dichotomy that a very strong episode with a slammin’ finale could have so many clunky scenes. Beverly behaving as a greatly dumbed down version of herself is a red flag. We all fawn over the naivety of Chilton and I put forth that Hannibal doing a Punch and Judy style hand-puppet show in a dream sequence in season 3 would be the best thing ever!

All on this episode of Eat The Rudecast, an unauthorized podcast about NBC’s Hannibal, and the works of Thomas Harris.

As Season 2 of Hannibal moves into the courtroom drama phase, the girls both really like what’s being offered up, while Cooper grumps about the show not feeling enough like itself. We talk of the gory murders, guest star defense attorney, the return of Dr Chilton and Freddie Lounds, and more gloriously gory tableaus.

All on this episode of Eat The Rudecast, an unauthorized podcast about NBC’s Hannibal, and the works of Thomas Harris.

We revel in a Killer of the Week (2 weeks) that we actually enjoy. After a tremendous bit of gore and intensity in the open, Episode 2 of Season 2 has dramatically upped the game, stripping away every bit of fat and introducing a lean story on all fronts. This episode is also an outstanding showcase for the curious performance of Gillian Anderson as Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier. All on this episode of Eat The Rudecast, an unauthorized podcast about NBC’s Hannibal, and the works of Thomas Harris.

It’s a new season, and we start it with an ultimate throw down between Jack Crawford and Hannibal Lecter. The killer of the week is extended and creepy, Will is behind bars, and there’s lots of wonderful and horrible all around. We are joined by Kate Kulzick, from our favorite Hannibal Podcast This is Our Design and The Televerse

Click here to see the “Leda and the Swan” painting in Hannibal’s dining room. Warning, NSFW!

We discuss a listener’s thoughts on Will’s hallucination during his time at the cabin with Abigail in S01E12, then dovetail into a greater discussion of the season as a whole before we take our time deconstructing the use of unreliable narrators, the beauty and the horror of the finale for Season 1 of Hannibal. Miko even reluctantly looks forward to what season 2 might bring.

We praise the acting in this episode where the wheels come off, Will takes Abigail back to the cabin, and Hannibal begins to throw absolutely everyone and anyone under the bus as possibly being the copycat.

The primary storyline is building speed as Will is becoming unhinged, Dr Chilton and Dr Gideon are back, and there is no killer of the week. Ahhh. Take it in. Then stick around for a crazy discussion of our HannibalLand Theme Park idea.

We’re so excited to find an episode where the KOW (Killer of the Week) actually feels essential to the episode in perhaps the scariest episode of the entire series. We also invent a hashtag to describe Jack Crawford’s interaction with Will: #angricerned. We get a bit silly and sidetracked with serial killer statistics, American Psycho, and more.

We completely dismiss the KOW (Killer of the week) as pointless, despite an amazing tableau in the totem pole and the presence of Lance Henriksen. We also debate the ethics of good and evil in a really great episode of Hannibal.

Our episode about dueling killers is thrown into a bit of relief after the fabulousness of our Sorbet course last week. There’s a lot to enjoy here as will begins auditory hallucinations. A romance between Alana and Will is shoehorned into the script. And that whole Franklin problem is taken care of. We like the episode, but lament that it isn’t better. Then we talk about the nature of reviewing episodes vs seasons of shows. In the middle of all this, we draw comparisons to Saved By The Bell, and the Goonies II NES game.

The key question, is it better to know more or less about our villains is a key discussion tonight as we revel in our favorite episode of the series thus far. Chock full of guest stars, humor, brilliant dialog, and shocking food preparation, we dig in deep to this wonderful episode.

In a conceptually awesome episode, we meet Anthony Hopkins AS Hannibal Lecter simulacrum Dr Abel Gideon played by the awesome Eddie Izzard. I defend my love of Dr Frederic Chilton to Ophilia. We also get a Clarice Starling proxy. There’s a lot to like about this episode, unfortunately it’s marred by poor writing, poor CGI, and otherwise doesn’t feel of a kin with those that came before and episodes that will come after.

The first killer of the week that intrigues us also leads to the most implausible and hacky ending we’ve yet seen, but an entirely metaphorical killer plot introduces so many new and interesting threads.

In this difficult to pronounce episode, we finally stray from our scene by scene deconstruction in an attempt at brevity, and wind up with almost twice as much content. We disparage the KOW (Killer of the Week) but praise the familial theme of the episode as well as guest star Molly Shannon.

We return stylistically to the first episode, with returning director David Slade, and spend the entire episode with Abigail Hobbes, resolving her feelings (and possible connection to) her father’s murders.